NIBONG TEBAL: With the Sungai Bakap by-election less than 24 hours away, indications are that many voters remain undecided, seemingly unmoved by the head-on campaigning between the candidates.
Claiming that little has changed in the area, which has about 39,000 voters, residents are still worried about long-standing issues such as a lack of water supply, flooding, and poor development.
“I’ve been trading here for over 10 years and it is still almost the same since the day I came,” said a hawker at the local market, who declined to be named.
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“We have seen nearby areas (enjoying) rapid development, but we seem far from it.
“The only change I (noticed) is that the people here have aged.”
Another voter, who wished to be known only as Tan, 65, described the election as a 50-50 fight and expressed his hope that the elected representative would be more active.
“We (have seen) several assemblymen from different parties here but issues still persist.
“Problems like infrastructure and the people’s welfare need to be attended to immediately by the local (representative).
“So far, most of the progress here was brought in at the Federal Government level.
“As a local, I’ve never seen my assemblyman,” he said.
The tepid reaction to the final day of campaigning was evident, even with the presence of PKR advisory council chairman Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail at the market on Friday (July 5) morning.
The wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, accompanied by Pakatan Harapan candidate Dr Joohari Ariffin, met and greeted people at some 200 stalls, including those trading by the roadside.
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The campaign team following behind constituted the majority of the crowd, observers noted.
Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, who was in Nibong Tebal nearby for a working visit, said he was satisfied with the campaign so far.
“They’ve campaigned hard for the past two weeks and I am satisfied with their efforts.
“I urge voters to turn up early to vote to avoid traffic congestion and risk of bad weather in the afternoon,” the Deputy Works Minister told reporters.
At the Jawi Multipurpose Hall in Taman Desa Jawi where vote-tallying will take place after polling on Saturday (July 6), Election Commission (EC) secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak said all preparations are in place.
“There would be nine polling centres with 65 polling streams.
“We are prepared to cater to some 39,000 eligible voters, while 552 workers from the EC would be on duty to run the voting process,” he said.
Perikatan Nasional candidate Abidin Ismail, 56, is engaged in a straight fight for the Penang state seat with Dr Joohari, 60.
The by-election was called following the death of incumbent Nor Zamri Latiff of PAS on May 24 due to stomach inflammation.
Gerakan held the seat from 1971 to 2004.
Umno’s Abdul Rashid Abdullah then held the seat under Barisan Nasional from 2004 to 2008, followed by PKR’s Maktar Shapee from 2008 to 2018.
In the 14th General Election in 2018, Amar Pritmal Abdullah retained the seat for PKR under the Pakatan Harapan banner until last year.
In the state election in August last year, Nor Zamri beat PKR’s Norhidayah Che Ros by a 1,563-vote majority.
Polling ends at 11.59pm Friday.
